Another Man's Treasure
by souichitatsumi
Summary: What happens when someone falls for Morinaga? How will Souichi react?
1. Initially Pure Intentions

_Plot Summary:_ What happens when someone falls for Morinaga? How will Souichi react?

_Author Notes: This story takes place after volume 5 (Canada arc) about one month after. Please, please, please alert me if the characters become too OOC. Oh, and please review (I would actually **love** constructive criticism) Thank you for reading ^_^_

_Disclaimer: Koisuru Boukun belongs to the wonderful Takanaga Hinako._

_Warnings: Boy's Love. Explicit Material in later chapters._

**Chapter 1: Initially Pure Intentions **

"Damn Fucking Idiot!" Souichi grumbled as he stomped down the street. "Can never keep his friggin hands to himself!" The blond was headed towards the convenience store to buy beer after a failed attempt at romance from none other than his over-fanciful kouhai, Morinaga.

* * *

About a half hour before, when Souichi arrived at the shared apartment around 10 p.m., he was surprised by an extravagant dinner prepared by Morinaga. On the table, his kouhai had set out an extensive array of foods accompanied by delicate candlelight to "set the mood". Morinaga sat at the table with a hopeful smile set on his face and cheerfully exclaimed, "Happy Birthday, Senpai!"

As Souichi took in the sight in front of him, his mood went from shock to utter confusion to boiling anger as he realized what his lower-classman was anticipating. He had forgotten that it was August 2nd, his birthday, and apparently Morinaga had remembered. Coincidentally, Souichi's birthday coincided with the first few weeks of the semester and there was always quite a bit of work to do to set up the research plan for the next six months.

'_Most likely, he only did all this so he can get me to do __**it**__ with him,'_ Souichi thought. It infuriated him that his kouhai thought that this was a good time to be thinking about sex.

There was a nervous silence that fell between the two, then after Souichi fixed Morinaga with a glare that could scare the devil; he turned on his heels to walk back out the door.

"Wait, Senpai!" Morinaga shouted as he lunged after Souichi. He caught up to him in the foyer and grabbed his arm, soon regretting it as his senpai whipped his head around to glare at him with deadly intentions.

"Oi! Let go of me!" Souichi yelled as he tried to wriggle his arm out of Morinaga's grasp.

"But, Senpai, I made all this for your birthday. I knew that you had forgotten, so I thought I'd surprise you with-" Morinaga stammered with his words, trying to reason with his hot-headed senpai.

"Sure, and then try to get in my pants later! Isn't that right?!"

"Senpai, you're wrong! Have some faith in me won't you? I honestly wanted to do something nice for you tod-" Morinaga pleaded.

"Heh, yea right, you always have ulterior motives. If you have enough time to think about vulgar things, then you should be thinking about our research projects for this year instead! It's a critical time for us to set up our experiments for the semester and all you can do is faff around about sex? Get real!"

Morinaga stood still for a moment, offended by Souichi's allegations. He truly _was_ trying to do something good for his senpai's birthday; of course if things turned romantic towards the end of dinner, he would have no objections.

_'We haven't had sex for a month, so of course I'd love for something to happen,' _Morinaga thought.

But the main goal of tonight was to pleasantly surprise Souichi with a table full of his favorite foods as a birthday present, and as usual, the opposite of what he intended occurred. When Souichi turned around to try and leave again, Morinaga pulled him towards the wall and leaned over him. Souichi was stunned for a moment due to the quickness of the event.

"…Morinaga, you basta-"Souichi words were cut off by Morinaga's mouth as he slammed their lips together.

He penetrated his senpai's mouth with his tongue, roaming around teeth and tongue with the wet appendage. After a few seconds, Morinaga only broke the kiss to allow Souichi to breathe and quickly stole his lips again. Souichi was thrashing about all the while and, at first, trying to break free of Morinaga's hold, but he slowly stopped struggling and gave into the deep kiss.

"Senpai…" Morinaga whispered in Souichi's ear.

"Ah, wai-, nngh!" Souichi moaned, but it was soon replaced by a gasp as Morinaga explored his body.

Morinaga's hand's started sliding along Souichi's sides and while holding Souichi in place with one hand, he ventured into his shirt with another. He stared into Souichi's eyes, intent on seeing every reaction.

"Senpai, I love you."

Souichi moaned as his kouhai's hands grazed his nipples; he turned his head to avoid Morinaga's intense gaze and caught sight of the candlelit table. Like a splash of cold water, Souichi came to his senses and realized that his was giving in to Morinaga's advances. In horror of his own submissiveness and seeing a chance to escape, he kicked his kouhai in the groin. Morinaga hissed in pain and fell to his knees, releasing his hold on Souichi. The man rapidly took advantage of his newly found freedom and ran to the door. Taking a moment to look back before leaving, Souichi took in the view of his kouhai slumped over in pain and snickered to himself.

"That's what you get, pervert!" Souichi yelled as he grumpily marched out and slammed the door.

* * *

"Stupid!" Souichi murmured to himself as he rounded the corner to get to the store.

The automatic sliding doors opened as he walked towards the store entrance. Once inside, Souichi was greeted by calm lounge music and a cheerful store employee.

"Good evening! Do you need any help finding anything today?" said the sunny employee as he walked through the store.

"Yea, could I have two 10-packs of Bullweiser?"

"Sure, just wait one moment over at the counter and I'll be with you in a minute."

The perky woman walked into a back room to get the order, while Souichi waited. While at the counter, he couldn't help but think about his kouhai.

The man was constantly jumping on him. Well that wasn't entirely true; usually, if he rejected firmly enough, the young man would leave him alone. But all too often, Morinaga was asking questions, constantly testing the older man's loyalty and feelings. Souichi didn't quite understand what his flatmate was still in question about. The fact that he had agreed to move in with him should have been confirmation that Souichi didn't find Morinaga's presence completely annoying.

The lady came back as quickly as she had exited with the order; Souichi paid for the beer and left the store swiftly.

While walking out, he checked to make sure he got the right amount of beer and just as he looked down into the bag, he bumped into someone. He wobbled for a moment then lost his balance; Souichi started to fall backwards and he flailed his hands forward reaching for nothing in particular. In a flurry, the man he had bumped into grabbed his arm and hoisted him back up effortlessly and before Souichi knew it, he was balanced on his two feet again.

"Watch where you're going, idiot!" Souichi barked as he turned to face the offending stranger.

The man he had bumped into was incredibly tall, quite a bit taller than Morinaga. He couldn't make out the stranger's features very well due to how dark it was outside, but he could tell that the man had dark hair, pale skin, and light colored eyes. The man looked remorseful and swiftly bowed to Souichi.

"I'm so sorry," the man said casting Souichi an anxious glance, "Did I hurt you?"

"No, but just watch where you're walking next time!" Souichi said then turned to walk away.

"Wait!" the man exclaimed walking after him.

Annoyed, Souichi turned around and glared at the imposing stranger. "What?" Souichi asked through clenched teeth. He really wasn't in the mood to deal with aggravating people right now especially after dealing with his kouhai earlier then nearly falling flat on his ass just now.

"Do you happen to know where Nagoya University is?"

"…Uh, yea," Souichi said, looking at the man in confusion, "but it's nearly 11 o'clock at night, it's not open."

"I know that, but I need the address so I'll know where to go tomorrow. You see, I'll be-"

Souichi quickly cut the man off, too annoyed to hear him out.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Do you want the address or not?"

Souichi impatiently explained the directions and address to the man, then headed back to the apartment.

* * *

Morinaga dropped to the floor and turned to lean against the wall. His crotch was still in a lot of pain, but he couldn't find the strength to get up and get ice for it. He looked over to the door that his senpai had just fled through and sighed in exasperation. Yet again, the man that he loved was running away from him…from _them…_

Souichi's constant refusal and denial of anything having to do with their relationship, made Morinaga feel unsettled and uncertain about whatever it was that they had with each other. Although, his senpai had shown signs that he had feelings for the younger man, his flighty behavior was perplexing. One moment he would be latching on to the kouhai, and the next, he'd be pushing him away and kicking him in the groin.

_'Where do your feelings lay, Senpai? I want to have a relationship with you, but you can't be so guarded every time you're around me. I don't always have impure intentions. Granted, it's true that I want to touch you often, but isn't that normal if you're in love? _

After a long time sitting in the foyer thinking to himself, Morinaga got up and limped back to the kitchen. He placed all the food in Tupperware for later use, then washed all the platters that had been left from the table.

_'I wonder if Senpai would even care if I something bad happened to me?"_

Morinaga asked himself the question thoughtlessly; he already knew the answer. Even though Senpai was a tyrant sometimes… scratch that, most of the time, he wasn't heartless. The kouhai hadn't forgotten Souichi's worried face when he came after him during the house fire.

_Senpai…'_

Morinaga finished cleaning the last of the dishes, then sat in the living room for a while, mindlessly watching television. When he realized that he wasn't even paying attention to the show, he clicked it off and went to bed.

* * *

Souichi got back home quite late and expected Morinaga to have gone to bed already; his suspicions were proved true when he entered the apartment and his kouhai was nowhere to be seen. When he walked into the living room to put down the beer, Souichi casually glanced over at the kitchen. All the food that was on the table was put away and all evidence of the prior set up was erased. He quietly strode over to refrigerator and checked. Sure enough, all the food was packed away in Tupperware. As Souichi thought back to what happened earlier, he scowled and closed the fridge; he made his way back to the living room table, plopped down on the floor, and began to drink.


	2. An Inappropriate Interloper

_Disclaimer: Koisuru Boukun belongs to Hinako Takanaga_

**Chapter 2: An Inappropriate Interloper **

The next day, Morinaga made sure to stay out of his senpai's way. After the disaster of last night, he thought it would be best to keep a little distance from Souichi until he cooled down.

That morning, Morinaga had merely knocked on Souichi's door and told him that it was time to get ready for school. When he saw the disarray of the beer can cluttered living room, there was no need to guess what his senpai occupied himself with until the wee hours of the morning. Morinaga tidied up the living room then ate his breakfast. He made sure to leave breakfast and pain medication for Souichi as well and he left a little post-it note for him with a simple message: _'You should eat this before going to class, Senpai. Also, take this medicine to help with any pain you may be feeling today. –Morinaga'. _

Morinaga headed to school without Souichi, thinking all the while about their dysfunctional relationship.

It seemed as though he could never do anything right when it came to Senpai. No matter how hard he tried, everything he did made Souichi angry; even when his intentions were pure, Senpai never thought well of him. Granted, he didn't have the best track record with him because of his frequent ulterior motives in the past, but he was trying his best, and Souichi wouldn't give him a chance.

Morinaga was always in constant question of Senpai's feelings. There was never a straight, easy answer to whatever the kouhai asked him, and the older man continuously dodged every question the brunette threw at him and avoided every attempt Morinaga made to get closer to the man.

_'What can I do to make him happy? I love him so much…' _Morinaga thought as he entered the school gates.

* * *

Souichi had arrived about an hour after Morinaga. At first things were tense and awkward, but they soon got into a familiar work pace and the stressed atmosphere dissipated.

A couple hours later there was a knock on the door, and then their sensei, Professor Fukushima, walked in.

"Hn? Fukushima-sensei!," Souichi said, then both him and Morinaga did a quick bow towards the man.

"Tatsumi-san, Morinaga-san, How are you two this morning?" the man asked looking at both of them.

"We're fine, what brings you here?" asked Souichi, confused at the sudden appearance of their sensei.

"Well, I'm not sure if you've heard of it, but there has been a change in the curriculum for you upperclassmen."

"What changes?"

"Apparently, the Board of Education has decided to intensify your workload, so if you were in the process of planning out and pacing your semester experiments, you will most likely have to start over…"

As the professor kept talking, Souichi seemed to be getting increasingly aggravated, but his contained fury was only visible to Morinaga. Souichi always showed respect to his teachers, but after this new information, Morinaga's senpai seemed about ready to burst. The older man was about to object when Professor Fukushima continued.

"…Unless you take in another kouhai to help you."

Morinaga and Souichi glanced at each other with uncertainty, then Souichi asked the professor to elaborate.

"Well, there is an agricultural-science transfer student who just came here from Teiu University. He's brilliant with chemistry and is an efficient worker, I think you would like to work with him Tatsumi-san; and Morinaga-san, you don't have any problem with another kouhai in the lab do you? It means less work for you too."

Morinaga didn't really know what to say. He loved that it was only him and his senpai in the lab. Their work environment had become somewhat of a safe haven, and neutral area where Senpai and he could simply be, without relationship problems constantly hovering overhead, but at this point in time, it seemed futile to try and work without someone else aiding their experiments and he had to admit, they would barely get by with the plan they had set up now and with an even more burdensome curriculum, there was no way to get it all done without an extra pair of hands working along with them.

"No, sensei, it's no problem with me," Morinaga said.

"Well then, all I need is _your_ agreement, Tatsumi-san," Professor Fukushima said with a smile.

Morinaga and Fukushima were both silent for a while, waiting for Souichi's response. When it seemed as though Souichi would never come to a decision, Morinaga stepped up, "One moment, Sensei," then grabbed his senpai's hand and turned both of their backs to the Professor; they hunched over to discuss the situation.

Souichi abruptly pulled his hand away, his face scarlet.

"Don't. do. That. In. front. Of. People." He viciously mumbled, making sure to enunciate every word.

Morinaga ignored Souichi's statement. "Senpai, we have to have another person here. We can barely get all the work done with just us, and with additional work, it's going to be worse."

Souichi threw an irritated glance at Morinaga, then sighed before turning to face the professor.

"It couldn't hurt to have a helping hand around here."

"I'm glad you agreed to it, Tatsumi-san. You definitely chose wisely."

"When will the new student be coming here?"

"Actually…" the professor trailed off as he walked towards the door and opened it to reveal the transfer student. "Come in Tanazaku-san."

Souichi had to keep himself from gaping as the new student walked in, having to duck his head a little to get through the door way. It was the stranger, that same stranger from last night. When the young man saw Souichi, he looked shocked for a moment, but then the emotion vanished from his face as soon as it had appeared. He put on a pleasant smile then bowed deeply.

"Good Morning, my name is Keita Tanazaku. I look forward to working with both of you." Now, in clear fluorescent lighting, his features could be made out. He had brown hair and cerulean eyes. He was a few inches taller than Morinaga and some of his features were European. He was a handsome fellow and would no doubt garner attention from the female student body.

Morinaga and Souichi both slightly bowed in acknowledgement.

"I'm sure all three of you will get along well. Morinaga-san, Tastsumi-san, I would like you to show him the ropes around this lab and the experiments that you have to get done. Let these two weeks be used for training, then I'm sure everything else will run smoothly. Well, I have to get to another meeting. Have a good day." Professor Fukushima nodded to all three of them, then made his way out of the lab.

Souichi waited until the professor was out of ear shot to yell at the new student.

"You?!" Souichi shouted, "What the hell are you doing here?!"

"I go to school here now," Keita responded calmly, inwardly smirking at his own comment.

"I know that, but, but-" Souichi was getting irritated again.

"Senpai, you know him?" Morinaga asked, ignorant to what had occurred the previous night.

When, Morinaga spoke, it seemed to be the first time that Keita truly noticed him there. He had been aware of his presence, but not fully, at least, not until now. As Souichi sputtered out an annoyed explanation of how the two met, Keita realized that he couldn't keep his eyes off the brunette; he studied the dark-haired man from the top of his head to feet. He had a kind and warm aura, kind of like a puppy…

"Oh, so that's how you know him," Morinaga said, relieved to be caught up on the information.

"Yeah, and it's your job to train him, 'cause I sure as hell aint doing it."

Morinaga seemed about ready to retort when Keita stepped in.

"Tatsumi-senpai, I know that I caused you trouble the first time we met, but could we please start over," Keita sincerely bowed yet again to Souichi, "I want this to work out. I'm sorry that I irritated you, but could we please move on?"

Souichi looked at him as though he was assessing the apology, then walked over to his work station, "Fine, whatever, just don't get in my way. It's still your job to train him, Morinaaga!"

"Alright, alright, Senpai." Morinaga said with a sigh.

* * *

Souichi was really regretting telling Morinaga to train Keita. When he heard them laughing with one another on the other side of the lab, he made a face to himself.

_'Why the hell are they getting along so well? It's so fucking annoying, laughing all the time. What the hell could they be talking about that's so funny?'_

It had been a few hours since Keita came to the lab, and him and Morinaga got along instantly. That was the problem. They got along too well. Something about the way he talked to Morinaga made him dislike the guy. During lunch was the worst.

* * *

_Keita was in the lab for only about an hour when it was lunch time already. Within the hour, they seemed so…chummy with one another. Keita accompanied us for lunch, and this is where things got weird. When we went up to get lunch at the line, I was standing in front with Keita behind me and Morinaga behind Keita. After I put what I wanted on my tray, I waited a little while for them to get their food so we could sit down. Then, that Keita, the bastard, says, "No, Morinaga, let me…" and serves Morinaga's food before his own. Of course like any normal person, I was thinking 'What the fuck?'. _

_So, anyways, Keita gets his food next, then we all sit down at one of the tables. Morinaga, that dumbass, forgot to get chopsticks, so he gets up to get a pair, then Keita stops him and says, "Here, Morinaga. You can have mine," Then throws a shit-eating grin at him. He actually got up again to get another pair. _

_Then, through the whole lunch, they kept talking and laughing with one another as if they've known each other for years, and every time they'd stop their annoying-ass chitchatting, when Morinaga would be eating, the bastard would be staring at him...and staring at him...and staring at him! What. The. Fuck? _

_And here's the fucking ice cream topper of all this. At the end of lunch, Morinaga insisted on taking all of our trays to the front. Then, when he turned around and was walking away with the trays, I must've been hallucinating, but I could have sworn that Keita was looking at his ass._

* * *

Souichi scowled at the vivid remembrance of the event, but his thoughts were disrupted by yet another one of Morinaga's laughs. His laughter could have easily been mistaken for hyperventilation if one didn't know any better. What was the faint pain throbbing in Souichi's chest as he watched the two talk with one another. It seemed so wrong, as though the world was turned upside down, to see Morinaga enjoying the company of someone other than Souichi. The sudden burst of laughter was the final straw. He was getting increasingly annoyed with their giggling and whatever it was that they were talking about. This whole situation just put him in an overall bad mood.

_'Are they even doing work over there?'_

This thought prompted Souichi to check up on them without warning.

"So, what have you both been up to," Souichi asked suspiciously.

"Oh, Senpai," Morinaga spun around on his stool, quickly meeting his senpai's irritated gaze, "He's gotten a hang of most of the information already."

"Oh really, then Keita, I guess you won't mind helping me with a reagent over here for the time being," Souichi asked in an attempt to separate the two.

"Of course, Tatsumi-senpai," Keita decided, following Souichi back to the lab station.

Throughout the rest of the day, Keita helped Souichi with whatever he needed, but he'd constantly steal glances at Morinaga, and sometimes watched him through his bangs. It seemed as though feelings were rapidly blooming for the young man. Just like before, he found that he couldn't take his eyes off the brunette and he realized that he was mentally taking note of all his quirks, like subtle gestures and repeated phrases.

Towards the end of the school day, Keita went to the restroom and left Morinaga and Souichi alone in the lab for a while.

Morinaga warily looked over his shoulder, then made the decision to ask him. "Senpai, would you like to go to dinner with me tonight?"

"What? Why?" Souichi questioned, suspicious of Morinaga's intentions again.'

"Oh, I-," Morinaga forgot that he had made a promise to himself earlier to give his senpai some space after the incident, of course after such an incident, the brunette was trying to be wary of anything that would irritate Souichi, "Um, well, if you don't want to go, it's alright, I just thought that since today's been kind of busy, you'd like to go out…to eat…"

Souichi eyed Morinaga, wary of his plans, proceeding with caution as usual, but he deduced that Morinaga wouldn't be stupid enough to try something again so soon. After what happened today, he felt that he needed to do this, to go to dinner with him. Why though, as confirmation and affirmation of Morinaga's feelings? _'Hell no.'_

"…Okay, but you better not pounce me," Souichi reluctantly agreed.

* * *

Keita returned to the lab and they rapidly closed up their work and headed out for the day. As they were leaving the university campus, Keita realized that Morinaga and Souichi were about to leave in the same direction.

"Oh, do you both live close to one another?" Keita asked, a little distressed at the possible closeness between the two men.

The young man wasn't quite sure yet why he was so attracted to Morinaga so quickly. It was as though a spark ignited something in his chest when he first met the brunette. He found himself questioning and feeling jealous of the seemingly close relationship of the two.

"Hn?," Morinaga said, not clearly hearing what Keita had asked then smiled as comprehension dawned on him, "Senpai and I live together."

_Senpai and I live together_

_Senpai and I live together _

_Live together_

The words reverberated in Keita's head. For a while he wore a blank expression, then when the sentence finally sunk in; he felt his mood drop to zero. He didn't know if he quite understood what this implied; this could possibly mean that the two were in a relationship. The heavy thought was like a punch to the gut; he was wallowing in his sadness and disappointment until his thoughts were broken by a dull sound.

Souichi had overheard what Morinaga said and in a burst of aggravation, punched his kouhai in the head.

Morinaga's hand rose to his cheek and rubbed, "Ow! Senpai, so mean!"

"I told you not to say that to people!" Souichi yelled then turned to face Keita, "he's exaggerating! It's only a share!"

"A share?" Keita asked regaining some hope, he looked over to Morinaga for confirmation and didn't miss the sad look on his face. Keita made a wild guess that **that** expression wasn't from the blow he just got to the cheek.

"Yes! A share! So don't go making any wrong assumptions!" Souichi shouted.

"I wouldn't dream of it," said Keita. He looked over to Morinaga. "I'll see you both tomorrow then?"

"Whatever. Come on, Morinaga," Souichi said while marching off.

Morinaga smiled and waved goodbye to Keita then ran to catch up with his senpai. Keita watched as they walked away, thinking about what he just saw and turning it over and over in his head.

* * *

"Wait, Senpai!" Morinaga called out as he tried to get closer to Souichi. The tyrannical man ignored his request but slowed down after a while and they walked home together. They were planning on going home to finish up some homework tonight, then they would go to a restaurant for dinner.

While walking alongside Souichi, Morinaga couldn't help smiling from ear to ear.

"Why the hell are you smiling so much?" Senpai broke the silence; he was a little weirded out when Morinaga would suddenly smile so brightly for no apparent reason.

"No reason, I'm just happy," Morinaga said, turning to Souichi, his face beaming.

Souichi eyed his kouhai for a moment, then looked away, a little unsure about his kouhai's response, "Well, it's creepy,"

That simply made Morinaga smile even wider. When Souichi was insistent on telling Keita that they were not living together, his mood had dropped a little, but he cheered up as he thought of his senpai's recent behavior. He didn't expect Senpai to be so forgiving within only a day after the incident. And now he was able to walk with the older man back to the apartment. Their apartment. Whether Souichi wanted to admit or not, it was both of their homes now. Just thinking about this rose Morinaga's spirits astronomically and right now, just walking with the man made him feel euphoric…

Morinaga gave a self-loathing sigh, _'What on earth am I? I feel so happy over something so insignificant. But perhaps, since Senpai forgave me so soon, this may mean that we're making progress!'_

Morinaga chuckled a little to himself.

* * *

Souichi and Morinaga reached the apartment after a few more minutes of walking, then got some homework done. Within a few hours they were at a Thai restaurant eating dinner.

Morinaga was sure to keep himself from rubbing his senpai the wrong way and provoking him in any way, when Souichi spoke up.

"So, I see you're getting along with Kairii." Souichi's voice snapped Morinaga out of his thoughts.

"Keita…" his kouhai corrected.

"Whatever." Souichi looked away for a moment, then stared at his kouhai expectantly, waiting for the response to his question.

Morinaga hesitated to answer, perplexed at the random question, "Well, he seems nice, which is a relief because it's always so hard to work with-"

He was going to say, _'It's always so hard to work with aggressive, mean people'_

"So hard to work with- who?" Souichi prodded while eating his ferociously eating his chicken.

"It's so hard to work with…terrible people." Morinaga finished lamely as Souichi continued gnawing at the hot wings. Senpai didn't seem to notice his halted speech and Morinaga inwardly breathed a sigh of relief.

"So, what were you guys talking about?" Souichi continued, catching Morinaga of guard again.

"What?"

Souichi looked away once more, a faint blush appeared on his cheeks, "You guys seemed awfully happy, what were you talking about?"

Morinaga was confused as to why his senpai was so interested in Keita. He never really showed this much interest in anyone else…then he realized the blush on his face.

_'Oh my God! Is he attracted to him? Well Keita __**is**__ handsome, but he's not Senpai's type is he? Wait, wait, Tetsuhiro! Calm down! Remember what happened with Isogai? Jumping to conclusions gained you nothing! Plus Senpai said that there's only me right? Right. I just need to stop thinking about this and get Senpai as far away from this subject as possible, and I need to do that quickly!'_

"Morinaga?" Morinaga looked up. He realized that he had just been intently staring into his food for over a minute. Souichi narrowed his eyes a bit, suspicion lining his features.

"Huh, Senpai?"

Souichi glared, "I asked you a question…"

"Oh, well we realized that we had grown up in the same city and took the same classes in high school. We also found out that we love same t.v. shows. We were laughing about moments we thought were funny on the late night dramas, you know, that kind of stuff. So, the weather is wonderful today isn't it!" Morinaga laughed nervously while waiting for Souichi's response.

Souichi was silent for a long while and just stared at Morinaga. Then, he suddenly blushed furiously from his neck up to his forehead and ducked his head. He continued eating his chicken in silence.

Morinaga didn't know what to make of Senpai's reaction. He decided that it was best to brush it off; he was trying his best not to irk Senpai, so it would be for the best if he just ignored it. It probably wasn't about something worth mentioning…hopefully.

* * *

_Heh heh! What could Souichi have been thinking about? Stay tuned to find out!_

_ I hope you guys don't absolutely hate Keita! I know he sounds super cheesy in this chapter, but I hope he'll be redeemed in the next. Extra information about him: He's 6'4", his personality is pretty similar to Morinaga's except he isn't self-sacrificing and self-loathing as him. He also has this really sexy side. He gets jealous easily and can be annoyingly childish and possessive._

**_Weekly Challenge!_****_ Try and guess what Souichi was thinking!_**


	3. Perhaps, Maybe?

_Author's Notes: Thanks so much for the reviews guys! You have no idea how happy it makes me to see that you enjoy the story! I've noticed that the apostrophes and quotation marks are sometimes messed up on my writings. I have to apologize for that, my keyboard is really wonky so it does whatever it wants sometimes! Oh, and I honestly don't mind if some of you guys dislike Keita, I kinda love/hate him myself so no worries; and I give a big thanks to those who do like him :), but..._

_...whether you like him or not, you've gotta feel sorry for Keita in this chapter..._

_Disclaimer: Ugh, I wish I owned it, but Koisuru Boukun belongs to the wonderful Takanaga-sensei_

**Chapter 3: Perhaps, Maybe? **

A week had come and gone fairly quickly since Keita came. The workload that Souichi and Morinaga had at the beginning of the semester was evenly dispersed and everything was flowing easily. The three had gained a certain rhythm to their work and the situation was running smoothly. Although there was still a lot of work to get done, at least at this point it was possible to get it done.

Souichi still didn't like Keita, but the guy was a good worker. He picked up on things in no time and was already working on some of the major projects with the two boys. He was resilient against Souichi's tyrannical behavior and dealt with unexpected experimental results well, which is, of course, crucial to being a scientist. But the thing that bothered Souichi the most about Keita was his constant attention towards Morinaga. He didn't get it. The man kept staring at Morinaga when his back was turned and he always made an effort to talk to him at every possible opportunity. And worse was, that idiot Morinaga just went along with everything. Laughing at the guys jokes and talking with him.

_'It's as though he's not aware that the guy likes him…'_

Souichi shook his head vigorously in an attempt to clear it. He needed to focus on his work, but thoughts about Morinaga kept plaguing him.

_'Does he just not like me anymore? …maybe he finds Keita more interesting…Ha! Impossible! That nitwit is always hanging around me…but, maybe he…likes Keita and only stays with me out of a feeling of obligation…It's just like him to do something that stupid, he's too nice…but, I say that as though I want him to go…but I don't! Wait, what? I don't? Since when?'_

As Souichi wracked his brain for answers, Morinaga walked next to him to pick up a beaker. Startled, Souichi sharply turned around and slapped Morinaga.

Morinaga, stunned by the attack, dropped the beaker and it shattered on the floor. Souichi groaned at the mess and swiftly searched the lab for a paper towel to clean up the glass. When he turned around he saw a concerned Keita hovering over a kneeling Morinaga. Souichi looked in front of his kouhai and saw a pool of blood forming.

"Morinaga! What-!" Souichi sputtered, standing stock-still and gaping and the blood he saw dripping from Morinaga's hand.

"Calm down," Keita said, visibly annoyed with Souichi, "We need to get him to the nurse's office."

Souichi hastily walked to Morinaga to look at the cut on his hand. '_Good God!'_ It was more like a gash. A huge piece of glass sliced deep into Morinaga's hand due to the pressure of the crash. Heavy guilt washed over Souichi as he stared at the deep wound. Morinaga looked up at Souichi; seeing the evident fear and remorse on his face made him feel awful.

"I'm alright Senpai, I'll be alright!" Morinaga said cheerfully trying to ease his senpai's concern.

"If you're not going to take him to the nurse, I will," Keita said while helping Morinaga up by the upper arm. Before Souichi could comprehend everything that had happened, Keita was taking Morinaga down the hall to the nurse's office while using the paper towel Souichi brought to keep the young man's blood from spilling on the floor.

Souichi stood in the lab, stunned for a while, then slowly made his way to a chair and sat down. Resting his elbows on his knees, he cradled his head in his hands and heaved an enormous sigh for everything that had happened.

_'Why did I slap Morinaga? Yea, he startled me, but he didn't deserve all that…Dammit! I don't know what I'm doing anymore!' _

He suddenly felt anger boil inside him as he realized that it was Keita that took Morinaga to the clinic. His heart started to beat wildly in his chest and anxiety quickly settled into his stomach.

_'Not on my watch, Keita, you bastard! No doubt you're gonna try something! _

Souichi hurriedly got of the chair and sped down the hallway to see his kouhai, swapping away the thought that was creeping up in the back of his mind, gnawing at his consciousness.

_'What is the particular reason why I'm so worried?'_

* * *

Keita was slowly and carefully wrapping Morinaga's hand in gauze. He stole a few glances at him then bit his lip. He didn't know what to say in a situation like this. Was one supposed to stay quiet and professional or try to be friendly? Keita glanced up once more, and met Morinaga's gaze. He tried to think of something to say before things became too awkward

"Does this kind of thing happen often?" he asked, trying to sound nonchalant and not nearly as mad at Souichi as he felt.

"Getting cut? Not really…I mean I'm usually pretty careful."

"I didn't mean getting cut; I meant getting hurt by your senpai."

Morinaga stiffened and Keita realized that this was a touchy topic for him.

"Well, I guess…" Morinaga trailed off, avoiding Keita's gaze, then hastily corrected himself, "but it's okay, I'm used to it now!" he ended cheerfully, trying to dispel any negative thoughts Keita may have about Souichi after all this. "In the end, he only hits me if I do something wrong, so it's usually my own fault. Just now, he was only surprised that I showed up right next to him so suddenly."

Keita studied Morinaga for a moment, then looked back to the brunette's wound and finished wrapping the gauze. Afterwards, he took a bandage and started to wind it tightly around Morinaga's hand.

"Ah- Ow!" Morinaga was unable to hold in a hiss of pain at the pressure put on the cut.

"I'm sorry, but if I don't wrap this tightly then more blood will escape."

"It's alright, it didn't hurt that much, I just wasn't prepared."

Keita felt shameful for realizing the unintended innuendo in that sentence. He blushed and ducked his head to hide it. As the days went by, his feelings for Morinaga were growing stronger. He didn't even realize he was gay until that first moment in the lab when he couldn't take his eyes off him. He had even felt giddy a few minutes earlier when they had just reached the nurse's office because the fact that he was touching Morinaga's hand.

_'I'm acting like a middle school girl who has her first crush. Keita, get a hold of yourself!'_

Perhaps…if he told him his feelings, could he possibly reciprocate? Maybe he could? But Keita had a growing suspicion that Morinaga had feelings for Souichi. Of course he didn't know for sure if the man was gay, but he suspected that Morinaga cared deeply for the older man. Keita was hesitant to ask anything more about Souichi, because he was sure Morinaga would defend him, and the man may even be annoyed by the questions and take them the wrong way.

Keita watched the injured man through his eyelashes, but soon Morinaga caught him gazing at him yet again. Mortified at being caught staring again, he quickly looked away and back at the bandaging he was wrapping. Morinaga cocked his head in confusion at Keita, totally unaware of the inner turmoil of his peer.

"Um, is something wrong? You've seemed like you've wanted to say something."

If Keita thought he was blushing before he wouldn't have wanted to see his own face at that moment. He felt the heat flood to his face like a raging fire and now he was sure that he closely resembled a cherry tomato. For some reason, when Morinaga asked that question, the tenderness in his voice had made Keita want to kiss him.

_'His lips…they're so beautiful…'_

Oh God, he _really_ wanted to kiss Morinaga. Keita tried to get words out of his mouth, but they were stuck in his throat. He looked surprised that there was no noise coming out, and his lips were only making silent movement. Morinaga simply looked even more concerned because of Keita's strange behavior.

"Are you okay?" He asked, eyes bulging in surprise at seeing his friend turn an even brighter shade of red.

Keita started to get words out of his mouth, or what seemed like words at the time. He just spluttered incoherent sounds, which made Morinaga even more worried.

_'I sound like a fool! What the hell am I saying?!'_

"Uh, I, um," Keita cleared his throat and attempted to speak clearly, "I'm fine." His attempt failed and the words came out hoarse and strained, almost giving away his underlying feelings. His breathing became difficult and as though things couldn't have gotten worse, he was getting hard.

_'Oh God, kill me now!'_

He decided to get Morinaga's hand wrapped quickly, then take care of his situation a desolate bathroom.

Keita's thoughts were interrupted by a loud bang. Both Keita and Morinaga turned to see a panting and seemingly livid Souichi enter the room.

* * *

Souichi stood in the doorway, taking a moment to catch his breath, all the while studying both of them. He faintly sighed in relief when he saw that nothing shifty was going on, but he was still very wary of Keita. Why was the man blushing so much? He, yet again, had to swap away the continuous nagging thought.

"Morinaga…" Souichi cautiously walked towards his kouhai. Keita would have glared at Souichi if he hadn't had a dilemma on his hand…rather, in his pants. He knew he was acting childish towards Souichi, but frankly, he didn't care. In his eyes, he thought Tatsumi-san had acted carelessly and harshly - as usual – and now Morinaga was suffering the consequences of the tyrant's behavior.

"Senpai?" Morinaga said staring as Souichi walked towards them.

Souichi stood in front of both of them, clenching and unclenching his hands, searching for words to say that would fix the situation. Keita, for some reason, seemed relieved at finding a chance to leave; he quickly finished wrapping the bandage and excused himself from the room.

Morinaga looked up at Souichi expectantly, but the blond didn't know what to say. He started to fiddle with his fingers and he looked down, unable able to meet his kouhai's eyes. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to…I never wanted to…"

Before Souichi could form a coherent sentence, Morinaga had him wrapped in a tight embrace. For some reason he didn't fight it. "Senpai, it's okay. I'm alright; I know you didn't mean it," Morinaga whispered into Souichi's ear. His face turned ruby red at the man's deep voice violating his thoughts. He couldn't hold in a gasp when Morinaga licked the shell of his ear. Now he was really embarrassed. He struggled against his kouhai's hold and surprisingly broke free.

"Idiot, how many times do I have to tell you? Not at school." Souichi scolded the man, but the reprimands sounded empty, like lies. Morinaga merely smiled at Souichi, "Whatever you say, Sen-pai," said Morinaga teasingly.

As Souichi turned to walk out of the clinic, Morinaga leaned in next to the blond, and quickly whispered, "I love you."

He couldn't help smiling at the older man's string of curses following his minor taunt. They walked back to the lab together to finish up the day.

* * *

_Well, what do you guys think? Poor Keita! This chapter is slightly shorter than I wanted it to be, but I have a feeling you guys will like the next one. I wanted to upload this sooner, but I have no internet so I have to settle with Library and McDonald's wifi. I'll try to get in the next chapter as soon as possible :)_

_By the way, have you guys seen the new chapter updates of Koisuru Boukun?! Now there are chapters 1,2,3,4, and 5 for volume 9! I nearly had a heart attack when I found out! I seriously started crying, they're my OTP so, yeah..._

**_Weekly Challenge! Um, I'm very unimaginative today so the challenge is to leave nice, juicy reviews!_**


	4. Ishq Hi Hai Rab Aur Khuda Soneya

**Chapter 4: Ishq Hi Hai Rab Aur Khuda Soneya**

Author's Notes_: I apologize in advance for any awkwardness you may experience while reading. My first time writing something like this. Sorry._ ^_^' The title means "_Love is Almighty Here"_

**_One Month Later_**

_'There must be something wrong with him, there's got to be something wrong with him,' _both Souichi and Keita thought as Morinaga listlessly walked around the lab.

The young man's demeanor had been awfully gloomy that week. Souichi was irritated with him, while Keita was worried about him, and Morinaga just wouldn't tell either of them what was wrong.

While Souichi was using a microscope, he zoomed in too much and brock a glass sheet. When he called Morinaga over to give him tweezers, the man got up and walked, hunched and sluggish over to the blond man. All the while Keita watched, concern written all over his face. Souichi was confused as to what could be causing Morinaga's dilemma. It's not like he hadn't tried to get an answer out of him.

* * *

They were sitting at the dinner table a couple evenings back. Morinaga had prepared dinner as always, and it was delicious as usual. But his disposition was the problem. He tried to look happy in front of Souichi but he was failing at it horribly. He set the table and they both sat down to eat their meal. Souichi was studying his kouhai because for the previous few days, he had not been acting like himself, and tonight was the worst that he'd seen him.

"Morinaga…" Souichi asked, slowly assessing is his kouhai weary expressions. Morinaga just looked dimly into his food. He seemed as though he was lost in thought. His unresponsiveness scared Souichi even more. He tried once more to gain the young man's attention.

"Morinaga!"

Morinaga looked up at Souichi, then blinked a couple times. He looked almost surprised at the presence of the blond.

"Huh? What's wrong, Senpai?"

Souichi snorted at the ironic question, "I should be asking you that."

"Eh? Me?" Morinaga pointed to himself, and feigned bewilderment at the question, "I'm fine."

Souichi, irritated by the obvious fib, narrowed his eyes at his kouhai. "Why are you lying?"

"What? Senpai! I am not lying."

"Just fucking tell me! Why the hell is it such a big deal? You've been acting weird for days now." Souichi was even more worried now, the fact that Morinaga would go through all that trouble to hide something must have meant that whatever it was, it must have been important.

Morinaga seemed to think for a moment about what Souichi said, then sighed and looked down.

"I can't tell you…"

"What? Why?" Souichi asked, desperate for an answer now. Anxiety was swirling in his gut. Morinaga wasn't one to keep secrets.

"I can't tell you now, but later… maybe I can tell you…"

Somehow Souichi wasn't satisfied with that answer, but he couldn't come up with anything to say in response to that.

* * *

Just remembering that night frustrated Souichi to no end; what exactly was going on in that idiot kouhai's head?

* * *

That n ight, Morinaga left the apartment to go to Adamsite, a gay bar that he often frequents to drown his sorrows and catch up with his old friend, Hiroto.

"Hiroto-kun. Hey." Morinaga said as he slipped onto the bar stool.

"Hey, Angel-kun, what's got ya down this time, honey?" Hiroto cast a sympathetic, knowing smile at his friend, and the man rapidly unburdened.

"I have no clue what's happening between me and Senpai. Sometimes things are going great but for the past, 2 and a half months, I've been wondering where his heart is," Morinaga sighed, and his friend silently urged him to continue, "It's been over two months since I've touched him and I'm getting to my breaking point. I made a promise to myself a while ago to not force him to do anything he didn't want to do, but I didn't realize at that time that Senpai could never and would never admit to wanting, craving having sex with me. Not only that, but he's been so distant lately. I get that we have a lot of research to focus on, but at the way things are getting, I'm going crazy…Maybe, maybe, he's lost interest in me…"

Morinaga's shoulders sagged and he dropped his head to the counter. Hiroto felt sorry for his friend, it seemed as though there was always some sort of problem going on with him and his senpai.

"Well, Angel-kun, maybe you're looking at it from the wrong perspective."

"What? How?"  
"Yer only viewing the situation from yer own point of view. Ya take sex as confirmation of yer relationship and feelings within the relationship, right? But, maybe yer senpai doesn't view it that way. Maybe he sees it as an expendable activity, something that isn't necessary all the time. You may feel the connection between you and yer senpai is smaller without having it constantly, but he may feel like nothing has changed. Right now, since both of ya guys are so busy with schoolwork and everything, he probably hasn't even put a second thought into it. You also need to know if Senpai-kun really cares about you. You're gonna have to ask him, and leave him no way of escaping the question."

Morinaga thought about what Hiroto said for a moment, then nodded his head in acceptance.

"I really need to talk to him don't I?"

"Ya think?"

* * *

**_While Morinaga's at Adamsite - Keita_**

Keita was concerned about Morinaga. His usual cheerful mood, one of the things that he had found most attractive about the man, had completely vanished over the last few days. Morinaga looked incredibly miserable and depressed and Keita was determined to get to the bottom of it. This may have seemed morally incorrect, but he had to do it. He told Tatsumi-senpai and Morinaga-san to go home without him, so while they were leaving, he snuck behind them and followed Morinaga. The brunette unintentionally led him to a bar with a small sign that said _Adamsite _on the front. He watched as his recent infatuation walked into the building, then looked around outside.

_'There seems to be a lot of men here…well, those two guys are a couple… oh my, ahem, yeah, __**those**__ two are __**definitely**__ a couple…and so are…those two… …Wait a second, is this…, is this a gay bar?! …Well, that's certainly must mean he's gay, right? But, does this mean that he's…looking?' _

Keita walked past the building and tried to inconspicuously look through a few of the windows. He finally spotted Morinaga. The man was sitting by himself at the counter.

_'Well, since he goes there alone I can only suspect that he might be looking for a relationship…'_

Keita tried not to blush as he thought of a possible relationship between him and the brunette. '_This still doesn't confirm all of my suspicions, but at least I know that he's gay.'_ The man laughed to himself, earning him strange looks from nearby strangers. He was giddy with happiness and couldn't contain it. He didn't even realize that he had forgotten the reason for this stalking expedition; he was supposed to find out what was wrong with Morinaga.

_'One day, oh please let him one day be mine,' _Keita prayed as he walked towards his apartment.

* * *

When Keita reached home he couldn't help but think about Morinaga. He wanted to seriously sort out his feelings before trying anything. As he sat down in his living room with a bowl of soba, he contemplated his feelings for the man.

_'Okay. Morinaga Tetsuhiro. Black hair, Gorgeous black eyes, Sexy as fuck… but what do I like about him aside from the physical…he is ridiculously kind, he's clumsy sometimes which is extremely cute, he's caring, and smart, and understanding, and…amazing… …'_

Keita groaned and slid his hands down his face.

_'…and I sound like I'm in love…I especially love when he gets all lost in thought, then when he snaps out of it, he looks so dazed. He has this really warm and becoming aura that just draws people to him…ok, so I know that I basically love a hundred things about the guy, but what do I hate… … … … ..well…sometimes…he's __**too **__kind… …and he puts up with people's crap way too much… …oh my God, that's not legit stuff to hate!'_

The young man groaned again and ran his hand through his hair in frustration.

_'Well, now I know he's gay, so I at least know that I've got a shot in hell. I've got to try my best to make him fall for me! Starting tomorrow, Morinaga Tetsuhiro, I'm coming after you!'_

* * *

**_While Morinaga's at Adamsite - Souichi_**

Souichi didn't have any homework to do, so he was just sprawled across the couch in the living room. The television was on, but he wasn't even paying attention, he was lost in thought, worrying about his kouhai.

_'Did I do something to make him mad? I don't think so. I wouldn't have been able to anyway, we've both been so caught up in work for the last month. Nothing really weird happened recently… only the cut a while ago, but he seemed fine about that. Then, there was that night about a week before that when he tried to…"_

Souichi sat up on the sofa.

_'Wait, how long has it been…since we've…? Three weeks, four weeks…? … … over two months?! Woah, it __**has **__been a while… Well, I guess that's good. The idiot hasn't been terrorizing me, Heh heh!…why hasn't he though? Why hasn't he tried anything? Does it have to do with why he's acting like this? Maybe he __**is **__angry at me and that's why he hasn't… Maybe he really does like that bastard Keita and he's depressed because he has to put up with me…"_

Thinking about Keita reminded Souichi of the conversation at the Thai restaurant. Souichi couldn't explain it, but he had felt his breath constricting when Morinaga was telling him about the amount of things he and the new kouhai had in common. His heart ached in remembrance of the occurrence. Suddenly, like a hammer to the head, Souichi also remembered the embarrassing thoughts he had had that night.

* * *

After Morinaga had answered Souichi's questions, the man's mind had been a battleground of suspicions.

_ 'They have way too much in common! This is too weird! …Will Morinaga fall for this guy? …but, where does that leave me… What the hell, why should it even matter to me, I always tell him to find someone else, maybe if he does, he'll finally get off my back! Heh heh…But, do I even want that anymore. Do I want him to stop? …The fuck? Of course I do! Of course… right? How would their relationship work anyways? Keita's too tall to bottom, that means Morinaga …will…have …to…'_

Images of Morinaga writhing, sweating, panting, and moaning while being taken up the ass flashed through Souichi's mind. He felt his face flare up and he plunged his head down. He continued eating his hot wings while trying to forget the images that flashed through his mind, and terribly failing at it.

* * *

Souichi vigorously shook his head in an attempt to wipe the memory from his head. He stood up and made his way over to his bed room. He decided to go to bed and at least try to go to sleep. His efforts proved futile when he restlessly tossed and turned in bed. Now that he didn't have work clouding his mind and was left to his own devices, he realized he was horny as hell.

Not only was he constantly worrying about what was bothering his kouhai, but he also couldn't wash dirty images of Morinaga sweating, panting and driving into him from his mind. He sat up in his bed, he was already rock hard with only imagining some of the things Morinaga did to him. Souichi sighed; red-faced, he reached inside his pajama pants and lightly brushed his erection through his boxers with his fingertips. He suppressed a groan. It really had been a long time.

Souichi tenderly reached into his boxers and wrapped his hand around his cock and gave it a long, slow stroke. Souichi couldn't hold back a moan at the familiar sensation. He slowly increased his pace, but he wasn't feeling it that much. After a few minutes, he began getting frustrated. For some reason, he couldn't come.

_'Dammit! Why the fuck can't I…?'_

Souichi soon remembered the similar occurrence that happened in Canada a few months back and blushed crimson.

_'That dumbass, preventing me from…! Again!… …this was how he did it. Right?'_

He slowly took his other hand and gently tweaked a nipple.

"A-ah!" Senpai whined at the combined feeling of his cock and nipple.

The blond started to speed up rubbing his penis and twisting his nipple even harder while imagining Morinaga doing it to him. The friction of his hand on his dick felt otherworldly and moaned into his own touch. Souichi thumbed over his slit and smeared the precome over the head. He fell back on the bed, running out of breath because of the overwhelming pleasure.

"hngh, Ah! Nn! Mo…ri…na!"

He leaned against the headboard and started thrusting his hips forward, pushing his penis even harder into his precome smeared hand. This ended up not being enough for him to come either, and he was becoming frustrated again until he remembered Morinaga's words from Canada.

_'No way! No way would I ever stick my fingers in there!' _Souichi stubbornly thought, but as the minutes went on with no release in sight, Souichi's resolve slowly waned.

He shifted his position and knelt down on the bed with his bottom sticking out and his face pressed against the mattress. He inched his hands under his bottom and reached between to find his hole. His face was blood red with embarrassment.

_'I can't believe I'm doing this…' _Souichi thought with self-loathing and squeezed his eyes shut in an attempt to keep out the mortification.

The blond reached back in his memories to what his kouhai had done to him before. He gingerly prodded the tight hole, then slowly ran circles around the ring of muscle while sluggishly fondling his balls, afterwards he, ever-so-gently, violated the hole with one of his fingers. Souichi searched around for that spot Morinaga always found, but failed at his first attempt. He carefully added his middle finger to the first and slowly explored his anus.

Eventually his middle finger brushed against his prostate and his body jerked in anticipation. He experimented with prodding his prostate; he quickened his pace before long. Souichi fucked himself with his fingers and with each withdrawal and insert, he brushed the spot and the sensation became stronger with every touch. Soon Souichi was panting again and he imagined Morinaga pounding into him while hurriedly massaging his cock and finger-fucking himself. He moved his hips sensually, in rhythm with the thrusting of his fingers.

Souichi stopped plunging in his fingers, he simply reached in for his prostate with his middle finger, then started rubbing fast and rough against the organ.

"Ah. Ah! Nnhg! Nnn! Mori…nagaaaa!"

Souichi screamed as he came and Morinaga's name graced his lips; his body violently jerked from the strong orgasm. Cum splattered over Souichi's abdomen, chest, and chin as he finally got his release. His breathing eventually steadied and his body slumped on the bed.

After basking in the feeling of his aftershocks, he reached over and grabbed at his cardboard tissue holder. He thoroughly wiped himself off then threw the damp tissues in the trash bin beside his bed. Souichi dropped back down on his mattress and muttered a few curses to Morinaga, before drifting off into a dream-plagued sleep.

* * *

When Morinaga arrived home, he had intended to have a nice, long conversation with his Senpai, explaining why he'd been feeling down recently and he also wanted to confront Senpai on how he felt about the relationship. When he walked into the house all the lights were off and there was no Senpai to be seen. Although it was strange for him to go to bed early, there was no other explanation as to why Senpai wasn't in the living room.

He quietly walked over to Souichi's room and gently knocked on the door. When no answer came, Morinaga tried the doorknob. He had expected the door to be locked, so it came to his surprise when he was able to turn the knob. Morinaga cracked the door open and peered inside. His senpai was fast asleep under the covers,

Morinaga smiled to himself and gently closed the door, then ventured to his own room to try and get some sleep.

* * *

_So how was the lime scene? Hot or Not? This is the first time I had ever written a smexy scene. _

_Poor Morinaga-kun! Totally unaware that there are two guys that are wanking off to the thought of him. And of course, because of his low self-esteem, he probably would never think that people find him this attractive. _

_I don't know about you guys, but sometimes I have to take a moment and think about how hot Angel-kun is. I love the way Takanaga-sensei draws him. And of course, I could spend a century staring at Senpai's face. One of my favorite pictures of the elder Tatsumi brother is during the extra chapter at the end of Volume 2, do you remember the haircut scene? The panel where Morinaga says, "I've discovered new sensitive spots" and Senpai says, "…? What's with that look? …" and the arrows are pointing to Senpai's head? His hair was down and he looked all amazing…Anyone? Anyone? Just me? (Oh God, I have this manga memorized _**:') **)

_Remember to leave nice, thick, lengthy reviews! (did you like that innuendo, Myrskyluoto?) _

_**Weekly Challenge!**** What words would you use to describe Morinaga's and Souichi's physical appearances? Personally I usually say Morinaga is cute/hot, while Souichi is beautiful/sexy. What do you readers think?**_


	5. Those Who Falter and Those Who Fall

_Author Notes: I apologize for updating so late! Chapter posts may come a little slower now due to university starting this week. I'm also having a little trouble writing the next chapter, but fear not;** I WILL FINISH THIS STORY!** I am one of those people who could never leave something incomplete._

_Diclaimer: I wish I owned them, but sadly I do not. Koisuru Boukun belongs to the lovely Takanaga Hinako._

**Chapter 5: Those Who Falter and Those Who Fall**

At the beginning of the week, Morinaga had made a promise to talk to Senpai soon. He needed to get the information off his chest and to see where the man stood in their relationship, but things were so busy lately that he couldn't find the right time to mention it to his senpai; he felt much more at ease knowing that he had a plan of action, so he started to act like his normal self again, much to Souichi's and Keita's relief. Morinaga always felt so uneasy about his relationship with his senpai and he wanted to know how the man felt. He was determined to get answers soon, no matter what.

Morinaga had been completely oblivious to Keita's infatuation, and Souichi was getting really tired of Tanazaku's constant flirting with his kouhai, especially how he had been acting within the past week. It seemed even worse than before and Souichi was getting to his boiling point. He wasn't aware of the fact, but he was turning green with envy and his bad mood was getting to everyone. His constant yelling at both Morinaga and Keita was making the work even harder to do. Souichi was being especially cruel to Keita and was finding fault with every tiny detail of his work.

The amped up criticism and tyrannical behavior just made Keita more determined than ever to win Morinaga over. Since he had come to the conclusion that Morinaga had feelings for the blond, he viewed Souichi as an evil rival in love. If Souichi had doubts about Keita's intentions for Morinaga, they were all squashed instantly by the man's behavior today.

In others words, today was the day shit finally hit the fan.

* * *

_That Morning_

The day had started normally enough. Morinaga and Souichi had gone to school and started recording their information about the cultures. Soon enough Keita came in and the work fully started.

About an hour after Keita arrived, he started to get _touchy _with Morinaga. When he'd go over to check on the brunette's progress on a lab write-up, he'd rub Morinaga's back and slide his hand around his shoulder. Souichi would watch all of this out the corner of his eye and he could feel his face turning red with anger. A few minutes later, Keita went up to Morinaga again and handed Morinaga a reagent that he had asked the man to pass to him. Keita walked up behind Morinaga, then he reached around him, picked up his hand, gently pressed the bottle into it. Afterwards, he slid to Morinaga's other side (trailing his hand on his back the whole time). He gently stroked Morinaga's neck and whispered something in his ear.

Souichi couldn't hear what Keita had said, but what it was didn't matter. What mattered was that the Keita was messing with _his _Morinaga. Souichi had barely-leashed rage building within him. He turned and whipped his head back to his work.

_'Dammit! If he doesn't realize that that guy is flirting with him by now…! He mustn't know! If he did he wouldn't let that guy do all that shit!_

Souichi had wanted to punch the bastard several times for the way he hung around Morinaga, but how could he have possibly explained the reason for his behavior? Morinaga would never let him live it down. Souichi scowled to himself and tried to focus on his work.

Morinaga walked over to a side of the lab where his back was facing Keita and he was ruffling through some chemistry pamphlets in a box. He was conveniently bent over with his ass stuck directly in Keita's line of sight.

That's when he saw it. Souichi had just glanced over to the Keita-bastard and saw that look on his face. The asshat's eyes were lidded and glazed over with lust. Then when Morinaga bent over to rifle through the box, Keita had licked his lips and stared until had turned around.

_'What the! He…! What?! What the fuck?!'_

Souichi's patience with the whole situation was waning quickly as Keita kept on with his advances on Morinaga and the worst part was that Morinaga wasn't seeing any of it.

"Argh!" Souichi shouted and banged the table top with his fist.

"Senpai! What's wrong?" Morinaga was scrambling towards him until Souichi had snapped his head around and fixed him with a hate filled glare.

" Every. Thing. Is. Fine!" He enunciated then turned around, angrily grumbling to himself.

_... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ..._

Lunchtime was the same story.

_'Ramen. He ordered…ramen. He just had to order fucking ramen!'_

Souichi thought as he glared at Keita who was sitting across the table eyeing his kouhai who sat beside him.

Morinaga was in the process of eating ramen. Keita was staring at Morinaga intently as the young man's cheeks hollowed out to suck in the long noodles, then he licked his lips again.

_'This fucking…Arggg! Dammit! Dammit! Dammit! Why the fuck do they fucking sit together anyway?'_

After it was made known that Souichi had complete hatred for Keita, the young man had taken to sitting next to Morinaga instead, and happily so.

Then came dessert. And Souichi most likely lost ten years off his life.

_'God hates me.' _Souichi thought, already predicting what was going to happen as Morinaga took a bite out of the cupcake covered with a nice, big dollop of white icing.

Some white frosting got stuck on the side of Morinaga's mouth and Keita, being exceedingly, graciously flirty today, decided to wipe the frosting off of Morinaga's face himself, then proceeded to eat the icing himself. Souichi was so angry at this point that his hand was shaking.

_'What is this?! Some fucking shoujo manga?!'_

_... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... _

Morinaga was starting to worry about Senpai.

_'What's wrong with him lately? He's been so moody this week. At least more than usual. He just seems so on edge…'_

Then Morinaga saw his senpai's hand shaking.

"Senpai?! Are you okay?"

Souichi just look at him as though he wanted to get angry and say something, but then he just looked sad.

"Senpai…"

"Just, I…it's fine. Nothing's wrong," he muttered lowly and went back to drinking his coffee.

Souichi couldn't take it anymore. The only thing that was stopping him from doing anything about it was his pride. He wanted to punch Keita. No. He wanted to kill him. For touching _his _Morinaga.

_'What? __**My**__ Morinaga? Where did that come from…?'_

Luckily lunch ended soon, so his thoughts didn't have time to develop in that direction.

_... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... _

After lunch was the high point of this event. Everyone was working on recording data, and since Keita hadn't done anything since lunchtime, Souichi was able to calm down a bit.

He was focused on his work, until _it_ happened. Morinaga had gotten up to check on a gas chamber he was using. Keita was staring at him as usual, but something wasn't the same. He had a determined look on his face, as though he had just decided an important course of action.

He got up quickly and put his hand on Morinaga's shoulder. When Morinaga turned around, Keita swiftly pressed his lips against his. Morinaga was in such shock that his mouth had opened in surprised and Keita slid his tongue in.

Souichi glanced over at this time not particularly aware of what had been happening and he froze. How dare the man touch him? Something in his mind just broke at that moment.

He got up and silently made his way over to Keita with a deadly aura shrouding him. The man had just pulled away from Morinaga when, with a loud crack, Souichi gave the man a powerful right hook. Keita stumbled and fell on the floor, looking up at Souichi in anger.

Morinaga was still in shock. His eyes were rounded in surprise and his mouth was slightly gaped He suddenly came to his senses after a few moments and tried to stop the argument.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing!" Souichi yelled. He was in a state of undeniable fury.

"What the-? I should be asking you that!" Keita shouted, his hand cradling his aching jaw.

"Please, stop! Senpai! Keita-san!-," Morinaga tried to reason with the but his words were drowned out by Souichi's yelling.

"How dare you touch him!" Souichi was outraged, utter hate and anger was seeping out of every pore in his body. Morinaga whipped his head around to Souichi, confusion settling in once again.

_'Is Senpai jealous? He's getting so angry over me. Could he possibly…'_

"Eh?! What right do you have to tell me that?! I can do whatever I want …and Morinaga can too! Or do you have some sort of claim over him?" Keita argued, standing up and reaching his full height, trying to intimidate Souichi.

"…!, Well! I-he…he's my…" Souichi struggled to say what was needed but the words couldn't get past his mouth.

Morinaga couldn't believe what he was seeing or hearing. What was Senpai trying to say? So much was happening all at once that Morinaga struggled to keep up.

"Your what, Tatsumi? You know that he loves you don't you? So what the hell are you doing? I'm tired of watching someone _I_ care about grovel for someone who doesn't deserve it!" Keita shouted.

"Keita-san, Stop! Don't yell at Senpai that way." Morinaga yelled, attempting to stop the argument.

Keita walked past Souichi and reached for Morinaga's hand, "Tetsuhiro, I know that you care a lot about Tatsumi-san, but why try for someone who does not and will not love you! It doesn't even seem like he cares about you!"

Morinaga was stunned by the outburst; he tore his eyes away from Keita's and looked at Souichi's expectantly. He was angry at Keita for yelling at Senpai, but he did raise a lot of good questions; questions that Morinaga wanted answered as well. Did his senpai even want him at all? Wouldn't he say anything? Didn't Senpai care about him enough to fight for him?

"How dare you say that! I- of course I care about him! I-he's a good friend and h-he's a-a, well, he's-uh…" Souichi stammered, trying not to look Morinaga in the eyes.

A long silence hung over the lab as both Morinaga and Keita waited for Souichi to continue.

_'Senpai, please…' _Morinaga begged, silently pleading with Souichi.

"Not good enough," Keita taunted, then looked back to Morinaga, "Do you see now? He doesn't even have the guts to even say what you are to him. Why would you put yourself through this misery willingly?"

Morinaga looked back over to Souichi; tears started to fall from the young man's eyes and he turned away from both of them for a moment, then turned back to Souichi.

"…Because I love him."

Souichi fidgeted when he met Morinaga's gaze. The pain he saw there was so difficult to look at, "Morinaga, I, I-…" he couldn't hold the intense stare; he dropped his head in shame and looked the floor tiles.

_'I can't say something like that so easily! I-I'm not…I can't…'_

Souichi eyes started to water in frustration. He didn't want Morinaga to leave him; he knew that now, but he couldn't say that. He was too…scared.

Morinaga waited a long while, staring at his senpai, patiently waiting for some sort of confirmation of at least some reciprocation of his feelings.

_'Was there really nothing ever between us this whole time?'_

"I see…" Morinaga said, laughing darkly to himself after a long moment of silence, gaining Souichi's full attention. He snapped his head back up to look at his kouhai who had a bitter, self-loathsome expression, "I was only convenient."

"No! You were- I-…but I…" Souichi continued stuttering out meaningless phrases.

Silence filled the room yet again.

_'Why can't I just say it? I-I-don't know what to do! he-…'_

Souichi's thoughts were halted by the sudden movement of Morinaga. He walked to the other side of the lab and started to pack his bookbag.

"Wha-what are you doing?" Souichi asked; he trailed after him, his vulnerability and uncertainty evident in his words, "Morinaga?"

Morinaga ignored his question and continued packing up his school supplies. When he finished, he shrugged off his lab coat, setting it on a chair. Souichi eyes followed all of his kouhai's movements; they were wide with fear and anxiousness and glossy with unshed tears.

Keita had been silently watching the two for a while. He walked up to Souichi. The anger was washed from his voice and only disgust-filled disbelief remained, "Tatsumi-san, you really have nothing to say to him? Nothing at all?"

Souichi looked from Keita to Morinaga. His kouhai was standing at the door, giving him one last chance to stop him. They looked into each other's eyes, while Morinaga waited for him to say something, anything-

"I-I'm sorry…" Souichi's head dropped in disgrace.

-except that.

Keita walked towards Morinaga and took his bag for him. Morinaga's eyes were still settled on Souichi. Everything in him was telling him to just go up and hug the man, but he didn't. Him and Keita turned and walked out the door; and not a moment after they left, Souichi crumpled to the floor.

* * *

_Please don't hate me! The story's not over yet! Was this too emo? I hope not. Hope you guys are enjoying it so far! Remember to review, it makes me feel all nice and fluffy inside and it motivates my writing! I want you all to know how much I love you, so I decided to start replying to your reviews, just to let you know that I really do care :)_

_**Krikanalo**__: Thank you so much! I was really worried that the smut would be wierd! I have never written something like that before! And in response to your question: yes, the title is in Urdu. It is the title of one of my favorite Hindi songs! Thanks for the review._

**_puppypup413:_**_ Thank you for the compliment, oh, and I do see where the mistakes were made, thanks for letting me know. I'm going to go back and fix them at some point. Thanks for the review._

**_Myrskyluoto: _**_Hi darling! Yes I have seen the extras! I actually saw them before I saw volume 9, and I know what you mean, I couldn't take my eyes of the necklace either. Mori was so hot! Yes, this was the first time I have ever written smut, I am glad to know that it turned out well. Your post was beautifully long. I always welcome long posts so don't hold yourself back. I actually thought of making Morinaga walk in on Senpai, but I decided not to do that, something will happen later that makes up for it though, you'll see! Thanks for the review._

**_Kayla:_**_ Hello my dear! I would just like to let you know that your reviews always make me laugh and I always look forward to hearing from you. Thank you so much for the compliment, I would have nver imagined that someone would think that my work is genius. You definetely put a smile on my face. I guess it would be surprising to say that I'm a christian and I still write these things, but I've never felt christian guilt from doing this so I don't worry about it. When I was writing the lime scene, I kind of had to shut off my brain because when I would actually think that I was writing something like that, my face would turn blood red! lol! Thanks for the review, honey ;)_

**_Lady Tsuru:_**_ Hi, how are you? I am glad that you like the plot idea, it was swimming around my mind for months until I finally made the decision to write it. I couldn't help it and before I knew it, I had written 12,000 words already! About Tetsuhiro bottoming, I can't really tell you anything without there being a spoiler, but just stay tuned and you just might be...surprised... (saying anything else might be a spoiler!), but I definitely share your views on the matter though. Thanks for the review._

**_K-chan:_**_ I hope you enjoyed this update. Sorry you had to wait so long. Thanks for the review._

**_Weekly Challenge! Try to not completely hate Keita! hehehehehe! (I know this is the hardest one yet!)_**


	6. Dreams Could Never Fool Me

_Authors Notes: Oh my God! I am so sorry guys for leaving the story for such a long time! (At such a cliffhanger too! Initially, I didn't even notice) I just got caught up with a bunch of school work and familial issues, but now I'm back :)__. **This chapter was so hard to write! **I'm going to try to update regularly again, it may still be a little slower than at first, but I shall try to get them in at a reasonable time! (Special apologies to Kayla! Sorry it took so long!) The song 1000 Words (English - orchestral version) inspired this chapter._

_Disclaimer: All I want for Christmas, is Boukun~_

**Chapter 6: Dreams Could Never Fool Me**

Morinaga and Keita had only made it a little down the road from the school entrance and onto a desolate street when Morinaga broke down in a fit of tears. He covered his face with hands, embarrassed to be crying so much in front of the young man.

Keita slowly put his arms around Morinaga, attempting to quietly console him. Morinaga, remembering the fellow kouhai's previous actions, pried himself from Keita's hold.

"You kissed me…"

Keita looked away, his face flushing with mortification.

"Uh, yea," he muttered, "I guess this would be a good time to explain why I did that?" He looked over at Morinaga, and the brunet just nodded.

"Well, I-," Keita carded his hands through his hair while searching for the right words to say, "Um, I guess it's kind of obvious now how I feel about you…"

There was a tense silence reigning overhead. Morinaga didn't know what to say to that. He obviously couldn't accept the man's feelings because of his own feelings for Senpai and the simple fact that he just didn't feel the same way.

He had been honestly surprised by the sudden kiss. He hadn't noticed any strange behavior from Keita that would have indicated the kouhai being attracted; he thought that Keita was just a really friendly person. He didn't know how to reject the man and he didn't want to be harsh, because, after all, Morinaga was dealing with unrequited feelings as well. There was no way he would be the cause of someone else suffering the same kind of pain he was feeling at that moment.

"…but, now you know that I…about Senpai…" Morinaga trailed off.

Keita quickly looked back to Morinaga, "Yes, I'm aware, I just…" he looked away again, "it's not that easy to erase these feelings I have for you. I know that you care about him. You seem like you're in love with him…" he glanced at Morinaga, who briefly nodded and offered a sad smile.

Keita looked around a bit, unsure of what to say next. He had so much that he had to talk to Morinaga about, so many things that he wanted cleared up, but talking about this kind of thing out in the open seemed to be a bad idea.

"Would you come to my apartment?" Keita asked Morinaga. The raven looked up quickly, his eye wide with shock at the unintended implication of the question.

"No! no!, I-," Keita stammered, trying to clear things up, "I didn't mean for _that_! That came out sounding wrong! I meant so we can talk. It's kind of hard to talk about something like this out here…" he laughed nervously.

Morinaga thought for a moment, _'I don't know if I should…If he tries anything I could just bolt. But… what will Senpai think?" _Morinaga looked back in the direction of the school, _'…well, he made it perfectly clear that I mean nothing to him…'_ Morinaga closed his eyes, sadness overwhelming him at the thought. Realizing his somber demeanor, he immediately corrected his facial expression and plastered on a fake smile and quickly turned back to Keita.

"Sure…ok," Morinaga agreed, laughing at the genuine surprise on Keita's face.

"Wow, seriously?! Great," Keita stuttered as they turned to walk towards the man's apartment.

* * *

Souichi was now sitting on a stool in the lab; his hands were cradling his head as he reflected on everything that had happened.

What would happen now? Where did Morinaga go with Keita? Why couldn't any words come out of his mouth when Morinaga was there? All these questions, along with many others, echoed in Souichi's mind.

He shut his eyes in frustration and at the oncoming headache due to the excessive stress of the previous situation, he didn't know what to say to Morinaga because he had never thought out their relationship that much. The thought of being labeled as _gay _scared him to death, so he would avoid thinking about it as much as possible. So what was Morinaga to him? A friend?...A sex friend?

The blond grimaced at the title, remembering the first time he had heard the label in the school courtyard. _'There is no way we're sex friends! But, then, what is it that we have together?'_

Souichi began to feel a heavy nervousness whirl-pooling in his stomach from thinking about his relationship so much, but he kept pushing on with his thoughts.

_'The idiot is always telling me he loves me …Why am I even thinking about this! I should be happy that he left!...but I don't want him to leave. I hope he didn't go anywhere with that damn Keita… why did I feel so angry that the bastard kept on touching him?' _

Souichi grabbed his hair and pulled on the roots, completely aggravated by his confusing thoughts.

_'Dammit! I don't understand why I'm so…why do I care so much?! I hate homos, and yet, with Morinaga, with him I feel… right, everything feels right when he's with me. Like that's the way it's supposed to be…'_

"Aaargh!" he yelled aloud to the empty classroom. He banged his head on the table, "I don't know what I'm supposed to do!" His voice reverberated in the void science lab.

* * *

Morinaga was surprised at Keita's apartment; it wasn't large, but the décor definitely seemed extravagant. At the moment, the raven was sitting at Keita's western-style dining table. The man had asked Morinaga to wait there for a moment so he was just taking in the environment. Even though he was trying to occupy his mind with trivial thoughts, he couldn't stop thinking about his senpai.

Even though Souichi had been stuttering and stumbling, he had been trying to say something, hadn't he? The man eventually gave up in the end and gave a small apology to Morinaga…

_'Does that mean he was sorry that he couldn't return my feelings, or sorry that he couldn't say what I meant to him? Could I have mistaken his silence?…No, I'm most likely just overthinking it. Senpai always said that I needed to stop interpreting situations in a way that would only suit my own intentions, right? I'm probably just hoping for too much…it's a bad habit.'_

Morinaga thoughts were abruptly interrupted by Keita's soon return from the kitchen. The skittish young man promptly shuffled over to the dining table, afterwards placing various refreshments on the hardwood surface. Keita's nervousness could easily be observed by his hasty and clumsy attempts at setting the table. He had already set himself to a difficult task by carrying not only the drinks and snacks, but also plates, cups, and napkins from the cooking area.

He struggled with balancing the items for a while, but before Morinaga could offer his help, the young man had already gotten everything in order. After his excessive fumbling, Keita flashed a smile filled with anxiety and embarrassment at Morinaga. It seemed as though the kouhai's bad luck wasn't over because as soon as he started to get situated in his seat, one of the legs of the chair weren't stably grounded and he slid to the floor.

"Oh my God! Are you okay?!" Morinaga shouted in concern, swiftly rising from his seat to offer aid to Keita.

_'Great job making him fall for you, dumbass!' _Keita reprimanded himself as he took the raven's hand and was hoisted back up on his feet. _'I'm so lame!'_

"Uh, ye-yeah, yeah, I'm fine, thanks" Keita reassured Tetsuhiro with a shaky and uneasy laugh.

The two settled down in their seats again, none daring to speak yet. An uncomfortable silence engulfed them as they both waited for the other to start talking first. Keita fiddled with his hands while Morinaga was seemingly studying the pattern of the grain of the table. The silence eventually became unbearably uncomfortable.

_'Why can't I just say something! Dammit! I need to speak, I need to say how I feel. I really, truly want him…I won't stop until he's mine," _Keita argued within his mind, _'I started this whole thing by kissing him, so I'm obligated to be the one to break the silence.'_

Slightly nodding to himself with fresh resolve, Keita mustered up what little courage he had.

"I'm not sorry," Keita muttered then looked up at Morinaga with eyes chocked full of determination. The brunet, shocked by the preceding utterance, looked at Keita in surprise and confusion. The young man, though faltering a bit under his love's piercing stare, gathered himself and repeated, "I'm not sorry…that I kissed you."

Morinaga just kept gaping in bewilderment, and since he didn't seem as though he was going to say anything, the foreign student continued.

"I _am_ sorry if it has caused you any stress at all, but you have to understand, I had to let you know how I felt, no, how I _feel _about you," Keita took a breath, then ventured on in his speech.

"I have never had feelings like this about anyone in my entire life. Every day, I have to keep myself from latching on to you and kissing you until morning. Your existence radiates such a bright and beautiful aura around you. I find myself ten times happier when I'm with you. You're beautiful, extremely intelligent, and such a caring individual, I would be crazy to _not _fall in love with you—," Keita widened his eyes at his own slip of tongue.

He had never planned to reveal so much in such a short period of time. Once again he felt the sensation of warmth creep through his cheeks. True, that he had already come to the conclusion that he was in love with the brunet a while before, but somehow, confessing those same words to the object of his desire was a lot more embarrassing than he had imagined it to be. The young man snuck a glance at his guest and immediately regretted it. If he thought he couldn't fall more in love with the Morinaga, he was terribly mistaken.

Keita had expected the fellow kouhai to be looking at him with a mixture of pity, confusion, disgust, and fear, but he was pleasantly surprised. The raven had an incredibly serene look on his face, no traces of pity or disgust, but one filled with understanding, empathy, and friendliness. At the small smile that graced Morinaga's lips, Keita felt his heart skip.

At first, the abrupt outpouring from Keita had surprised Morinaga. He hadn't expected the man to feel so strongly for him and his earnestness was endearing in a way and brought forth memories of himself and his own determination for Souichi. He began to look at his friend in a different light. Keita was somewhat like a kindred soul, the man had the same feelings that Morinaga had held for Souichi.

_'I had no idea he felt so strongly…he genuinely wants to be with me,' _Morinaga thought as he smiled warmly at Keita. _'If how he feels about me any way similar to how I feel about Senpai, he's in for a world of hurt, because I don't think I could-'_

Then Morinaga paused in his contemplations; why couldn't he ever return Keita's feelings? Technically there was no reason why he shouldn't be able to; after all, nothing was holding him back, right? Senpai obviously didn't truly care about him at all and it seemed as though his love towards the blond would always be unrequited so he wasn't obligated to be faithful to the tyrant. Why not try to move on with someone, and finally, a person who had strong feelings for him.

With both Masaki and Souichi, it had always been Morinaga running after them and trying to make them fall for him, and both times, his heart had been broken. For once there was someone willing to give him love and affection. For once, there was another living soul that wanted him for him, not as replacement and not as a convenient companion. Perhaps it would be the right thing to give Keita a chance.

_'Who knows what could happen? Maybe I should try a relationship with him…'_

For a long moment, the two stared intensely at one another. Keita, disliking the tension swirling in the air, decided to elaborate on his emotions towards the brunet.

"I know how you feel about Tatsumi—san, but…I really-could you at least think about being with me? We could go slowly, you know? I would never try to force you into anything. I get that you only think about me as a friend right now, but your feelings might be able to grow into something more. To be honest…" Keita whispered whilst looking down and avoiding Morinaga's eyes, slight desperation covered his statement, "I would just be happy with being able to be around you…"

The young man's words, once again, struck Morinaga speechless. _'What would he say if he knew that I was already thinking about a possible relationship between the two of us?' _Morinaga wondered as he tried to come up with a response to the sincere kouhai.

Morinaga was, of course, still in love with his senpai, but the scene that occurred in the laboratory nearly shattered his heart. Perhaps it was about time to give up; constantly pushing emotions on someone could only become a bother after a while. Souichi would probably be happy if he finally left him alone once and for all. But there was also the fact that, at this very moment, Morinaga was in a very fragile state. After being virtually dumped by Souichi by sheer lack of acknowledgement, he wouldn't want to be using Keita simply for comfort while he got over the blond. There had to be something else there for him to work off of if he was going to start dating the foreigner, something else substantial, some sort of leverage or aid from Morinaga's side for the relationship to work. It couldn't just be feelings only from Keita's side-God knows that didn't work out between Morinaga and Souichi since it was always just the kouhai's love smothering the other-there had to be two willing partners.

He already felt fondness towards Keita and considered him a close friend. He did also feel love for him, albeit a friendly sort of love at this point in time, but love all the same. He and the fellow kouhai had bonded quickly after Keita just started working in the lab. Their personalities were very similar and compatible and the two got along well. There was no doubt that Keita was attractive, but Morinaga simply had never thought to look at Keita in a romantic way.

Even though Morinaga's thoughts about Keita were mainly platonic, he wondered if things could change at some point. _'Can platonic love…friendly love, possibly morph into romantic love?' _Morinaga asked himself, _'It's happened to others before, there's no reason why it couldn't happen to me. It wouldn't hurt to try…'_

Morinaga fell out of his deep thoughts to face Keita once again. The man seemed as though he was on the verge of a panic attack. He had been waiting patiently for Morinaga's response for a long while. The raven gently placed his hand atop Keita's, an action that shook the uneasy student to the core.

Morinaga could help but smile at the obvious emotions flashing on the young man's face. He was so worried and unsure of the answer he was about to receive and he was almost sure he was about to be rejected. Morinaga slipped his fingers under Keita's chin and lifted his head up, the brown-haired man's eyes widening at the small contact.

"Nee, why don't we try this then?" Morinaga uttered, then laughed heartily at Keita's apparent shock.

"Wha-what?! Really?! Th-this isn't some cruel joke is it, 'cause I don't think I could survive being rejected after this," Keita stammered after hearing the response.

"No, I assure you I'm not kidding," Morinaga replied.

Keita simply stared at Morinaga, completely dumb-founded, then one tear, followed by a huge mass of tears, started flowing down his cheeks. His face flushed a deep crimson due to the mixture and contrast of his emotions. He felt excited, embarrassed, giddy, anxious, grateful, and relieved all at the same time.

Morinaga reached to pat Keita's shoulders in an effort to calm him down, but before his hands made contact with the trembling man, Keita jumped out of his seat and fist-pumped the air in a signal of victory. Suddenly, Keita jumped over to Morinaga and took grabbed the brunet's hands. "I will win you over, Tetsuhiro Morinaga! Just watch and see!" he said with what could only be considered extreme enthusiasm. Morinaga chuckled once again at the earnest young man.

"I'll look forward to it."

* * *

_Author Notes: I think I'm gonna hide in a corner until you guys finish throwing tomatoes at me. Now time for reader comment replies!_

**_Koryandrs: _**_Thanks for the compliment! I'll keep up the good work!_

**_Alessandra West: _**_Yes, I love drama in stories too :)__ I'm glad you're enjoying it!_

**_Myrskyluoto: _**_Wow, if you disliked his touching of Morinaga before, you're gonna hate me now! Don't worry though, you won't be displeased at how this all turns out (at least, I hope not)_

**_Shadowcroxx:_**_ I shall never abandon this story, so DO NOT FEAR! :)__  
_

**_Kayla: _**_Your first comment had me laughing for 10 minutes! ROFL you are so cute XD! Yeah, sometimes I wish I could kick Souichi in the head for hurting my dear Mori. Yet again, I apologize for keeping you waiting for the story. I remember you saying that you looked forward to reading it during the week so I am really, truly sorry for keeping you waiting. By the way, do you think that you could get an official account so I can PM you? It's easier to respond to your messages that way. Thanks for reading!_

**_Lady Tsuru: _**_I think it's scary how well you can read into things, but I think the ending of this story may be a bit of a surprise! I'm still planning, but we'll see…we shall see… :D!_

**_Kawaii neko chan15: _**_You don't have to apologize, it's totally fine :)__ I definitely know what it's like to be busy so everything's cool. I'm glad you liked the lime scene and never be afraid to voice your opinions or ideas for the story! I will NEVER think you're being rude. I may even write your idea into the story, you never know!_

**_DevilGene: _**_I am pretty sure that there was a fanfiction about that on this website. It was made a while ago and I don't remember the title, but I did read it before. It was an AU story but it hadn't been updated in a while. Try looking through the archives._

**_Demoncookie8D: _**_I'm sorry I left it on a cliffhanger! That was seriously not my intention. I didn't even notice that I had done that until I read your comment LOL :) __sorry it took so long, this chapter was extremely difficult for me to write. Thanks for reading!_


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